The Electric State is filled to the brim with interesting robots, including one based on the legendary Mr. Peanut, but there's one extremely recognizable ad icon who almost made it into the movie as well—but was left in the writer's room.
The movie, based on an illustrative novel of the same name by Simon Stålenhag, follows an alternate timeline in the 1990s where sentient robots (including the iconic Mr. Peanut) have been outlawed following a brutal rebellion that led to a devastating war.
The Direct's Russ Milheim sat down Angela Russo-Otstot, the Chief Creative Officer of AGBO Films, who is the production company behind The Electric State, where she talked about how they pulled off such a massive film.
The Electric State Could Have Had Kool-Aid Man Instead of Mr. Peanut
Kool-Aid Man Almost Became a Symbol of Peace.
One of the key robots in the film is Mr. Peanut, based on the iconic mascot of Hormel foods, top hat and all. In the movie, Mr. Peanut is the leader of the robots, who also stands as a symbol of peace.
- The Direct: "There are some famous robots [and] mascots used in the movie, such as Mr. Peanut. What was the process of getting those approvals? Was there ever any pushback?"
Angela Russo-Otstot: My big producorial feat was getting Hormel to hear us out so that we could pitch a movie where Mr. Peanut is the leader of the robot rebellion and a war hero and a symbol for peace. And once we walked them through the creative, they were really great champions of everything that we were doing.
But, as you mentioned earlier, we're dealing with such a specific world, such a specific approach to the robots. It felt so important to us that Mr. Peanut be the character that we intended for him to be. We even did a very brief exploration of other potential brand mascots that have the same level of nostalgia, and nothing quite worked in the way that Mr. Peanut does. And then to have Woody Harrelson come along and voice him was just the cherry on top.
- The Direct: "I'm curious, can you share maybe some of the other ideas for mascots that didn't make it into the movie?"
Russo-Otstot: I mean, it was a fun trip down memory lane, that's for sure. It was a lot of us in the writers room just pitching out old mascots that we remember fondly from our youth. So, you know, I'll give you one which was Mr. Kool-Aid.
Designing the Robots of Netflix & AGBO's The Electric State
"The Inspiration Certainly comes From the Illustrative Novel By Simon Stålenhag."
- The Direct: "There have been a lot of, you know, robots[in] fictional movies and shows. So, in approaching how they were going to look in this movie. What were some of your directives or guidelines on top of, obviously, the book the movie is based on?"
Angela Russo-Otstot: The inspiration certainly comes from the illustrative novel by Simon Stålenhag. And so we have this conceit of service robots that sort of paved the pathway for visual exploration that would fit within those parameters. We also were existing within an alternate 1990s, so there were more parameters that sort of helped to guide us there.
It was really important to bring on Dennis Gasner very early, along with his team, so that he could begin a visual exploration of what these robots could look like while we were developing the script, so that both could inform each other. The visual exploration informed the writing, and vice versa, with the writing and the visuals.
- The Direct: "How many of the robots were practical versus entirely VFX?"
Russo-Otstot: They're all entirely VFX. It's an incredible feat. When you look at it. The number of technicians and artisans who came together to execute something that I believe has never been done at this scale before is super thrilling and, creatively, I think, very exciting to see for audiences.
We used performance actors on set with our human actors, Millie [Bobby Brown] and Chris [Pratt] and Stanley [Tucci], etc. And then those performance actors also did some motion capture for us as well. And then we layered in the incredible voice talents of our voice actors on top of it. And you know, if you've seen the film, you know that the cast is quite spectacular in terms of the range of exciting talents that came together on this one.
And it was a great process to witness. It was a long process because you're virtually animating half the movie after it's been shot. So we did a practical approach while shooting, you know, with Millie and Chris and Ke and Stanley and others. But then we had a very long post-production period where we animated the rest of the characters in the film.
And there are more robot characters in this film than human characters, and so that was a really fantastic process to witness, and I think the outcome is really special.
Angela Russo-Otstot Explains Chris Pratt's Crazy Look in The Electric State
"[Chris Pratt] Specifically Modeled the Character After a Neighbor That He Grew Up Next To."
- The Direct: "I wanted to actually talk about how Chris Pratt has a very unique look in this movie. Jokes are made about it in the film, you have a scissor bot who's desperate to give him a cut. What were those conversations like?"
Angela Russo-Otstot: It was a fun conversation, that's for sure. We had a great vision board. There were a lot of references to Bruce Springsteen, which is a favorite of many of us on the core creative team. But Chris honestly had a lot to do with it as well.
He took a lot of inspiration from his own youth, and he specifically modeled the character after a neighbor that he grew up next to, and he sort of always idolized from afar, watching him out the window in the backyard, and he had this sort of heavy metal bent to him. And, Chris talks about, you know, even finding his physicality in the way that he walks through that gentleman that he knew in his youth.
So that's a lot of fun. I think he once joked that he genuinely thought his neighbor was, was it Eddie Van Halen? I can't remember, but he thought that he was one of the greats from back then and was disillusioned to realize that it wasn't him.
- The Direct: "As you mentioned, the cast of the movie is stacked when it came to casting everyone who were kind of some of the first to come on board and fit in perfectly, and then who was maybe that last piece that you guys were able to slide and go, Ah, okay, now the movie is complete. We got this last person."
Russo-Otstot: It's interesting. We were partnered up with both Chris and Millie very early on. And so that was always part of the core vision for the film. The characters were really written with them as inspiration. And so it was great to have that compass from the start. So, those would be the first two that I would cite.
It's such a large cast, particularly because we have so many voice actors working with [casting director] Sarah Finn and her team. There were a lot of delightful surprises that came along. We were so excited by each of the folks who came on board and really helped to continue evolving the creative exploration of the robot that they were voicing.
You have Brian Cox, and you have Jenny Slate, you have Hank Azzaria doing a couple of robots. So that was a really fun process. But I would say having Stanley [Tucci] come on as our villain was quite an exciting moment. We had just worked with him on 'Citadel,' and we had such a fantastic experience with him.
He's just such an elegant pro and very like-minded and loves these big worlds and in the tone you know that we were swimming in. So seeing him come on as villain was quite fun, but one expected twist for us was having Ke [Huy Quan] come on to to play his character, which was originally written as a female character, and we had a scheduling conflict, and so we ended up pursuing Ke for the role, and it worked out just perfectly. And we're so happy. So it was really great to team up with him again, after 'Everything Everywhere All at Once.'
What Makes The Electric State Unique
"This One Has Always Stuck Out to Me As Being One of My Favorite Children."
- The Direct: "AGBO has been responsible for so many projects up until this point. But what would you say makes Electric State unique amongst all of your other stuff?"
Angela Russo-Otstot: That's a great question. I think that we've really focused since our inception as a company on original IP. That is important to us. To find original ideas and exciting, emerging voices or visionaries that will deliver them out into the world. And we did it, you know, through 'Extraction' with Sam Hargrave. We did it on 'Everything Everywhere All at Once,' with the Daniels.
And I think that when it comes to 'The Electric State,' even though it has Anthony and Joe at the center of it. It does involve that core team of trusted collaborators that they've worked with all through their tenure at Marvel and throughout their time at AGBO, so that made it a real family experience, literally and metaphorically. So, that makes it unique and special.
In that regard, I also think that it's innovative. It is a brand new world that I don't think audiences have ever seen something like this before. It's fresh, but it's also refreshing because it's a film that I can sit down and watch with my kids, and there are not many options outside of traditional animation to do that.
And this film, I think, does a nice job of paying homage to the films that we loved growing up as fans of cinema. And it brings that sense of nostalgia from a cinematic perspective. It also brings a sense of nostalgia from a 90s perspective, and that's something fun and interesting to share with the next generation who didn't grow up during that time. So, it's a really weird balance of giving something that feels nostalgic yet is brand new and aspirational, and I think that is something we've not done yet at AGBO; we've explored a lot of genres.
We've put different genres together in interesting ways. We have come up with interesting mythologies for alternate versions of our world or other worlds, but this particular film does all of those things in a completely new manner. And I know that I'm never supposed to say this because you love all of your children, but this one has always stuck out to me as being one of my favorite children.
- The Direct: "The Electric State is all about the ethical dilemmas of robots and AI versus human and just generally, their legitimacy as sentient beings in these sci-fi settings. How does Electric State aim to add to that conversation in fresh ways?"
Russo-Otstot: I think that it focuses on the human aspects of technology. Truly, at the core of the film, we're touching on how all of us may distance ourselves from each other, and sometimes we do that through technology, and sometimes we can even do it by shunning technology.
And so, I think that really, at the end of the day, it's a film about human connection, even though it happens to be a world that is filled with non-humans. And I think most of the humanity in the film, ironically, stems from the robots themselves, which is a lovely sort of subversion. But I think that oftentimes when we see robots in films, particularly films that are leaning a bit more sci-fi than this film does, which has a great sense of adventure to it as well. But, usually robots mean doomsday or dark, dangerous things.
And in our film, we're truly dealing with benevolent, lovable, unique robots who are here to teach humanity something but also to learn lessons themselves that are equally important. And so the themes explored in this movie are quite universal, and they're quite broad reaching. Again, I think this is something that will equally speak to myself and also my kids when I sit and watch it with them.
The full interview can be watched here:
The Electric State starts streaming on Netflix on 3/14.
